If you remember the Zoids craze from the ‘80s, then you might be interested to learn that a new game is releasing in Japan at the end of the month: Zoids Wild: King of Blast.

If your memories don't stretch back that far, Zoids are large mecha-animals which began life as a toy line and then grew into a franchise that includes five anime TV series and a bunch of games, too. While the western fortunes of the series have taken a nosedive since the '80s, the robots managed to maintain their popularity in the Land of the Rising Sun and have appeared on several past Nintendo platforms.

Announced a little under a year ago, this new game from Takara Tomy is based on the latest anime and appears to be an attractive 3D fighter with plenty of electrifying over-the-top moves and colour. It includes some pretty devastating finishers known as ‘Final Blasts’, a Zoid Viewer enabling you to examine your models in exquisite detail and a story mode to underscore the mecha-mayhem. There’s competitive two-player and a legion of Zoids to choose from (we like the look of Death Rex).

The new trailer above goes into substantial detail over its seven minutes. While this is unlikely to get a localisation, importing is an option for any die-hard Zoids fan in the west, as long as you’re willing to miss out on the story (or, of course, you speak Japanese).

Have you played any games in the illustrious Zoids series? Like the look of this one? Get your Zoid on in the comments.